Tag Archives: regulations

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a non-exempt battalion chief for a municipal fire department. Our department requires all non-exempt chief officers, like myself receive FLSA comp time in lieu of FLSA overtime. Recently, the city changed some comp time policies. First, the maximum number of comp time hours an employee can accrue is now capped at 300 hours. Previously, we ...

The Borrego Springs Fire Protection District (District) has reached a settlement with twenty-five firefighters following an FLSA lawsuit filed in May 2020. The firefighters claimed the District failed to include money paid directly to firefighters in lieu of employer sponsored medical benefits, paramedic certification, and holiday in lieu pay in their regular rate of pay. The terms of the settlement ...

The Fire Law Group is pleased to announce a series of advanced live three-hour webinars dedicated to the most important and challenging FLSA wage and hour issues impacting fire departments, firefighters, and other public safety professionals today. The first is scheduled for Wednesday, October 20, 2021 and is entitled: Calculating Regular Rate for Firefighters and other First Responders. This program ...

The State of Tennessee is taking an interesting and innovative approach to combating the nation-wide problems associated with a lack of volunteer firefighters. Late last week, the Tennessee Senate passed a bill aimed at providing financial incentives for volunteer firefighters in that state. The incentive, which is anticipated to cost the state almost $5 million for fiscal year 2021-2022, provides ...

On April 9, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD)—the arm of the DOL responsible for enforcing the FLSA—officially rescinded a controversial employer-friendly enforcement practice implemented less than a year ago. As a general rule, the FLSA requires liquidated damages be assessed after finding an employer violated the Act’s minimum wage or overtime requirements. Liquidated ...

The City of Selma, Alabama is the latest city facing an FLSA lawsuit filed by city firefighters. Three Assistant Fire Marshals/Fire Inspectors filed the suit, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, on April 19, 2021. Richard C. Byrd, Willie J. Mason Jr., and Aeneas L. Pettway allege that the city failed to pay them overtime ...

A group of 225 current and former federal correctional employees filed a lawsuit last week alleging that the U.S. Department of Justice has failed to pay them required hazardous duty pay and environmental differential pay. Additionally, the plaintiffs also allege violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The plaintiffs are all current and former employees at the Allenwood Federal ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I have a question about mandatory overtime and the FLSA. If a firefighter is ordered to work an extra shift, doesn’t the FLSA require time and one-half pay for that shift? This is my situation. I am a full-time paid firefighter/paramedic. We work a 24/48 schedule with an assigned Kelly Day every three weeks. This combination results ...

A federal magistrate Judge has ruled that an FLSA overtime lawsuit brought by more than 450 Kansas City, Missouri firefighters can continue as a collective action. The lawsuit, which was initially filed in 2019 by only two city firefighters, had grown to include more than 450 total firefighters. The city argued the firefighters lacked a “common interest” and as a ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time paid firefighter working for a small fire department with 13 full-time firefighters. We work 24 hours on duty, followed by a 48 hours off-duty for an average of 56 hours per week. My department has a strange way of paying overtime. Instead of paying firefighters for overtime worked in a regular bi-weekly paycheck; ...